“Oops, Sorry!” – Jess

Today I am writing about one of William’s favourite phrases – “Oops, sorry!”. He is 5 and has Creatine Transporter Deficiency (CTD). “Oops, sorry!” is what I say if I accidentally bump into him when I don’t realise he’s standing near me. This happens quite a lot. Then a few weeks ago William placed his hand on my nose and I said “Not my nose!” and he burst into giggles. It was just a bit of fun at first and a great game we shared when I helped him get dressed or undressed. But a few days later he started hitting me in the face quite hard (not realising it hurts) in order to play the game. I try to stay calm and tell him “Ouch, that hurts mummy”. Then I tell him to say “Sorry Mummy” which he does but without really understanding it’s meaning. This behaviour has now escalated to hitting me in the arms as well as the face but my response is always the same. This is the frustrating part.

Book Character Day

Now to the good part. The other night William bumped his head on the kitchen bench and said “Oops, sorry! Are you alright?”. My husband and I smiled at each other proudly, it was sooo cute! Even though it was the wrong context, he is seeming to get the idea of what ‘Sorry’ means. Now every time he falls over, or bumps himself or someone else, he says “Oops, sorry!”. He even pretends to fall over just so he can say it and get some good attention from us. The hitting game hasn’t stopped but is becoming less frequent. We are making progress, one small step at a time.